Open the gitpod ☝️ and install the robotology-superbuild following the instructions for the setup of icub-head and then for the setup of icubsrv.
This repository contains instructions and sandboxes for the SW setup of the iCub cluster using the robotology-superbuild.
One of the main goals of the robotology-superbuild is to simplify downloading and building all the software
that is necessary to have on the main control computer contained in the head of the iCub robot, whose hostname
is icub-head (or pc104 in older iCub versions). This documentation provides the basic information necessary to
use the robotology-superbuild on the computer contained in the head of the iCub robot and its respective laptop(usually called icubsrv).
Warning: if your iCub robot is not currently using the robotology-superbuild, do not attempt to migrate it
without coordinating with the iCub support. For any doubt, please open an issue at robotology/icub-tech-support.
The operating system contained in the icub-head/pc104 is tipically installed by IIT (you can download the images). For more information, check the relevant [documentation[https://icub-tech-iit.github.io/documentation/icub_operating_systems/pc104/icub-live].
On this machine, in /home/icub/.bashrc_iCub a script containing several enviroment variables definitions is provided. If you want to migrate to use
the robotology-superbuild, you need to remove the existing .bashrc_iCub file, and substitute it with the one provided in https://github.com/icub-tech-iit/icub-os-files/blob/master/user-environment/bashrc_iCub_superbuild.
After you modified the .bashrc_iCub script, reboot the computer and in a new shell check che values of the ROBOTOLOGY_SUPERBUILD_SOURCE_DIR and YARP_ROBOT_NAME env variables.
If ROBOTOLOGY_SUPERBUILD_SOURCE_DIR contains /usr/local/src/robot/robotology-superbuild, and YARP_ROBOT_NAME contains the string specific to your robot,
then the modification of the .bashrc_iCub was successful.
Before proceeding with the installation of the superbuild, it is necessary to install the dependencies of our software. This can be done simply following these steps:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential
where <distro> is the ubuntu\debian distribution(e.g xenial, bionic, buster, focal).
If you haven't configured your git yet, you have to set your name and email to sign your commits:
git config --global user.name FirstName LastName
git config --global user.email [email protected]
On the icub-head/pc104, the software repository necessary to run the iCub robot are contained in the /usr/local/src/robot directory.
On a new machine, this directory should be empty. All the relevant software can download and build with the following commands:
cd ${ROBOT_CODE}
git clone https://github.com/robotology/robotology-superbuild.git
cd robotology-superbuild
git checkout v<release>
sudo bash ./scripts/install_apt_dependencies.sh
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DROBOTOLOGY_USES_GAZEBO:BOOL=OFF -DROBOTOLOGY_ENABLE_ICUB_HEAD:BOOL=ON YCM_EP_DEVEL_MODE_robots-configuration:BOOL=ON ..
makewhere <release> is the release version on which the iCub has to be setupped(e.g v2020.08.patch-01).
The latest and other robotology-superbuild releases can be found here.
The main difference over the standard installation of the robotology-superbuild, is that the ROBOTOLOGY_USES_GAZEBO option
is disabled (as the Gazebo is tipically not installed in the icub-head/pc104 machine) and the ROBOTOLOGY_ENABLE_ICUB_HEAD option
is enabled, to enable all the YARP devices that are necessary to interface with the internal communication bus of the iCub robot.
Moreover, YCM_EP_DEVEL_MODE_robots-configuration is set to ON, in this way the user can define a specific branch of robots-configuration instead of master.
The handle of robots-configuration inside the superbuild is treated in the dedicated section.
The make command in this case will download, compile and install all the software necessary to run the robot itself.
If you need to use other superbuild profiles, they can be easily enabled with the corresponding CMake option.
Important: do not run make install for the superbuild: the superbuild already installs all the software in
/usr/local/src/robot/robotology-superbuild/build/install, and installing the software elsewhere on the robot is not currently supported.
Important: If you are using an old iCub that still uses the CAN internal bus, you also need to enable the ROBOTOLOGY_USES_CFW2CAN CMake option. Note that in this case, the .bashrc_iCub file should also contain the definition of the
CFW2CANAPI_DIR environmental variables, in addition to all the environmental variable already defined in that file.
See the main robotology-superbuild README for more detailed information.
Important: since icub-firmware-build does not contains sources to be compiled, but just binaries, it is not included in the superbuild, then it has to be cloned separately.
The steps for setupping the icubsrv are the same, but are different the flags needed in the configuration phase of the superbuild:
cd ${ROBOT_CODE}
git clone https://github.com/robotology/robotology-superbuild.git
cd robotology-superbuild
git checkout v<release>
sudo bash ./scripts/install_apt_dependencies.sh
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DROBOTOLOGY_USES_GAZEBO:BOOL=OFF -DROBOTOLOGY_ENABLE_ICUB_BASIC_DEMOS:BOOL=ON -DROBOTOLOGY_ENABLE_ROBOT_TESTING:BOOL=ON ..
makewhere <release> is the release version on which the iCub has to be setupped(e.g v2020.08.patch-01).
One of the main difference to get used to is the different folder tree structure respect the old approach with the clone of the single repositories.
Once you have correctly installed the robotology-superbuild you will have this folder tree for icub-head:
└── robotology-superbuild
...
└── src
├── ICUB
├── ICUBcontrib
├── YARP
├── YCM
├── icub-models
├── icub_firmware_shared
└── robots-configuration
And this folder tree on icubsrv:
└── robotology-superbuild
...
└── src
├── ICUB
├── ICUBcontrib
├── blocktestcore
├── blocktest-yarp-plugins
├── RobotTestingFramework
├── YARP
├── YCM
├── funny-things
├── icub-basic-demos
├── icub-tests
├── icub-models
├── robots-configuration
└── speech
These folder trees are reflected also in the build directory.
For example, you can find the YARP build directory in $ROBOT_CODE/robotology-superbuild/build/src/YARP.
If the make command of the robotology-superbuild was successful, you just need to modify ~/.bashrc_iCub uncommenting #export OBJ_SUBDIR="build" source it again and
you will then be ready to use all the software provided by the robotology-superbuild.
For checking your installation run on a terminal yarpserver --write, and in another iCub_SIM.
Most of the existing documentation regarding the installation of the software on the pc104/icub-head
Check it out the FAQ section.